I’ve been in hot debate with smokers on to why they smoke. They tell me it’s something that relaxes them, something that takes the ease off everyday problems. I wonder though on why they go to the trouble of slowly killing themselves for the sake of a minute of relaxation.

A quick story is, when I go to school, going unnamed for reasons, I always take a tricycle. I’m not lazy, I’m not in a hurry, I just want to pass by the smokers that are waiting in front of the school. Students with their uniforms, proudly displaying their smoke filled mouths from their decapitated lungs. I don’t see why they do this at a young age, as well as in the midst of morning, where it is rather hot. In some countries, they smoke because it’s cold. The heat from the cigar or cigarette helps them get along with the heat, but I don’t know why these kids do it in the morning. Shame.

A cigarette costs around 4 pesos now, it’s not much until you buy atleast 8 in a day, just to satisfy your crave. Rolled-up death, I’d like to call it. Smoking a yosi as they would call it in kantos, would lessen your lifespan for atleast 5 minutes, plus, having a vice like this is costly, It’s better to save up to what you smoke for your tombstone.

To be clear, I hate the smoking part, not the smoker. Two different things that go all mixed up. I hate the smoke, it hurts my lungs. I couldn’t bear the smell of smoke for the fact that I know my body is not ingesting it, because it knows it’s not good for me. I have friends who smoke, and I do tell them on occasion that smoking isn’t really a good habit, but who am I to blame them for having this? They already have it, and one suggestion of a friend could never take out a life-long habit. That’s the painful truth.

I could go all the way on how bad smoking is, i could tell you that the nicotine inside cigarettes damage the brain, how the smoke damages the lungs, I could show you different pictures of damaged bodies and side-effects of smoking, but if you don’t have the will to change, then the presentations would be dubbed useless.

In conclusion, I have to say, I don’t condone smokers, atleast try to find something can relax you. buy a boat, go fishing! replace those smokes with chewing gum. Just find something better, you’re not only hurting yourselves, you’re also hurting the people that is within your distance. Be respectful to the people who are going in front of you, if you see someone passing by, don’t exhaust your smoke to their direction. It’s rude. Also, don’t ask people for change because you need to buy smokes, you’re disturbing people for your own trouble, and showing yourself off smoking is not good, as far as I know, only locomotives give out smoke.